February 7 - Quincy Porter (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

 

Previous posts for February 7th are here: Eubie Blake (2020), (2021), Wilhelm Stenhammar (2022), Benedikt Schack (2023), Eubie Blake; Erkki Melartin (2024), and Ossip Gabrilowitsch (2025)

++++++++++++++++++++

 

Quincy Porter (7 February 1897 – 12 November 12) was an American composer and teacher. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1954.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's In a Name?

If the Porter today had been "Cole,"

My lines would ample and droll,

But since it is "Quincy,"

My verse will be chintzy,

And you can go back to your scroll.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Here Today, and…

If the occasion should ever arise

That you're given a Pulitzer Prize,

We've learned from the past

That the glory won't last,

Despite how your publicist tries.

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

February 6 - Fabian (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 6th are here: Natalie Cole; Arthur Gold (2020), Bob Marley; Natalie Cole (2021), Claudio Arrau (2022), Charles Wheatstone (2023), Fabian (2024), and Thurl Ravenscroft (2025)

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

Fabian  (b. 6 February 1943) is an American singer and actor. He became a teen idol in the late 1950s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sic transit gloria

Fabian, when still a teen,

Exploded on the music scene,

And though untrained and lacking skill,

The audience response was shrill

With adolescent female shrieks;

But such a career whose instant peaks,

Are mounted in just days or weeks,

Cannot sustain its frenzied pace,

Endangered in its fragile place

By any newer pretty face.

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

February 5 - Giovanni de' Bardi (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 5th are here: Ole Bull (2020), Barrett Strong; Christian Gottlob Neefe (2021), Grażyna Bacewicz (2022), Ole Bull (2023), Christian Gottlob Neefe (2024), and Ole Bull (2025)

++++++++++++++++++

Giovanni de' Bardi (5 February 1534 – September 1612) was an Italian literary critic, writer, composer and soldier. He supported the famous Florentine Camerata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better Late Than Never

Raise you beer, or champagne, or Bacardi,

And toast Giovanni de' Bardi,

Whose work in old Florence

Emphatically warrants

This verse, which is several years tardy.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Revival

Intrigued by ancient descriptions of the emotional and moral effect of ancient Greek tragedy and comedy, which they presumed to be sung as a single line to a simple instrumental accompaniment, the Camerata proposed creating a new kind of music. – Wikipedia, s.v. "Florentine Camerata"

In Giovanni de' Bardi's critique

The Renaissance drama was weak,

But attempts to restore

The catharsis of yore,

Had an upshot more Tuscan than Greek.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

February 4 - Ray Evans; Johann Ludwig Bach (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 4th are here: Erich Leinsdorf (2020), James Dunn (2021), Johann Ludwig Bach (2022), Alice Cooper (2023), Johann Ludwig Bach (2024), and Carl Michael Bellman (2025)

++++++++++++++++++++ 

Ray Evans (4 February 1915 – 15 February 2007) was an American lyricist best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, best remembered for "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Time in the City

I looked at the date, and my heavens!

It's the birthday today of Ray Evans,

Whose song "Silver Bells"

Casts seasonal spells

On the air, at hotels,

At the mall, and at 7-Elevens.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ 

Johann Ludwig Bach (14 February [O.S. 4 February] 1677 – 1 May 1731) was a German composer and violinist, and third cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach. Technically the 4th is his Old Style birthday, but in spite of the inaccuracy I have decided to feature him today because it works out with my purposes.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But They Were Cousins

 

He was a third cousin of  Johann Sebastian Bach, who made copies of eighteen of his cantatas and performed them at Leipzig.   -- Wikipedia and www.carus-verlag.com

 

That Johann Ludwig Bach survives today

   Is owing to his famous distant cousin,

Who liked his kinsman's works enough that they

   Were copied out for Leipzig by the dozens.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

February 3 - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Felix Mendelssohn (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 3rd are here: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Felix Mendelssohn (2020), Mabel Mercer (2021), Johann Georg Albrechtsberger; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (2022), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (2023), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Felix Mendelssohn (2024), and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Felix Mendelssohn (2025)

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 2 Februar 1594) was one of the great composers of all time.  We do not, in fact, know when he was born, but 3 February turns up in some sources, so we are somewhat arbitrarily adopting that here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Domicile

Palestrina's funeral was held at St. Peter's, and he was buried beneath the floor of the basilica. His tomb was later covered by new construction and attempts to locate his grave have been unsuccessful. – Wikipedia

Palestrina was buried in Rome,

But he's lost under St. Peter's dome;

Which seems a bit careless,

But at least he's not prayerless

In his holy anonymous home.

 

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ 

Felix Mendelssohn (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor whose works are still a core part of the repertoire.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Child is Father of the Man

He never outgrew his precocious youthful style. – Taruskin, qtd. in Wikipedia

The distinct Mendelssohnian sound

Is a thing that is justly renowned;

But the musical means

Which he found in his teens,

While effective, is rarely profound,

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]